


awestruck and asinine

by HylianFishFood



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: ..youtube? idk what to tag this. romance novels? its wild, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Unfinished
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 05:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11937354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HylianFishFood/pseuds/HylianFishFood
Summary: What do you do when everyone thinks your boyfriend loves someone else? Chad wishes he knew.





	awestruck and asinine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gannonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gannonic/gifts).



"I don't know how your writing is, like, actually good," Carlos says, his beautiful voice muffled by the quality of the hotel phone he's calling from. "Because every time you talk, I lose brain cells."  
  
Chad isn't offended. Carlos' snark is one of his many endearing qualities, after all. "Are you implying that my sappy romance novels _don't_ make you lose brain cells?" He responds, sure that his grin is audible in his tone.  
  
"You use some very long words in them, is all." Carlos says back, staticky. "I'm still pretty sure you're plagiarizing."  
  
"You've seen me write!" Chad protests. He hears soft laughter from the other end, like Carlos is trying to stifle it.  
  
"Hmm, you can never tell." Carlos responds. They're quiet, for a bit, and Chad closes his eyes and pretends that Carlos is there with him, sitting across the room, maybe, scrolling through his social media or scripting a video.  
  
"I miss you," he finally says, even though it's barely been a full day. Carlos sighs.  
  
"Yeah, me too."  
  
"Text me when you find your phone, okay? I can't believe you lost it, you just got there."  
  
"I will." Carlos groans, and Chad can imagine the exact look on his face - exasperated, probably, with a hint of gratitude.  
  
"Have fun at your con, babe. Text me, I'm serious!"  
  
"I got it, Chad," Carlos laughs. "I will, I will, talk to you later!"  
  
The increase in audible static indicates that Carlos has hung up. Chad reluctantly hangs up on his end, wishing that he was able to go with Carlos to that dumb vidcon. Chad might've hated those things, but Carlos thrived off the positive attention, and something about seeing his boyfriend so in his element was thrilling.  
  
There's nothing to be done about it now, anyway. Chad sighs, and scribbles _voice like the dawn, smile like the eye of the storm?_ on his notepad. He crosses out eye - _heart of the storm,_ he corrects, because it's more original, and underlines storm for good measure. 

* * *

Carlos texts him a few hours later ( **It was in the couch! I think Jay hid it!** ), and then Snapchats him (several times, actually). They're mostly of Jay in dramatic and vaguely sexual poses, but Chad is screenshots the most recent one, which is Carlos sticking out his tongue, shirtless, hair still wet from what is presumably the shower. Carlos texts him immediately, sending an expressive **;)** and then **dork**. 

 **Leave me alone, I'm just in love** , he sends back, earning **:/ too bad Jay's taken** for his troubles. He laughs, and goes back to the chapter he's been typing to word for the past hour, newly inspired. 

* * *

"These last few chapters have been super stale," Audrey comments. "Like, they’re not bad, but the quality is totally fluctuating. It'll be paragraphs of regurgitated, lackluster nonsense, and then one of some genuinely raw, heartfelt shit, and it's back to the boring formula."  
  
"My muse is out of town." Chad says, which isn't technically an explanation, but Audrey knows him well enough to understand.  
  
"Oh yeah, Carlos had that vlogger thing, right?"  
  
"I miss him literally so much, Auds." Chad groans, and Audrey rolls her eyes.  
  
"His career is based entirely on recording his face and voice. Just go through his backlogs, idiot," she says, turning her eyes back to the laptop in front of her. Chad sighs.  
  
“It’s not the same, it’s not genuine,” he complains. "He's got his panel today, I'm gonna try to catch a stream, maybe get some work done then."  
  
Audrey rolls her eyes, _again_ , and says, "Next time, just go with him. It's so hard to edit your work when you're busy pining over your own damn boyfriend. You're gonna have to rewrite the hell out of these when he gets back."  
  
Chad flips her off, but whatever snarky retort is to follow is interrupted by a melodic chime coming from his phone. He fumbles for it, that's _Carlos'_ ringtone, and Audrey laughs at him.  
  
"Shut up!" Chad hisses. She bites her lip, not that it helps, silently watching as Chad texts back.

"What'd your boy say?" She finally asks, with a knowing smirk. Ugh.  
  
"I didn't say it was Carlos!"

Audrey raises her eyebrows.  
  
"...He said, uh, that the panel is starting soon.” Chad mumbles, blushing. “Wanna set up the stream with me?"  
  
Audrey shrugs. “Not like I’ve got anything else to do.” 

* * *

There's something embarrassing enough about screenshotting your boyfriend’s snaps, but it's 100% more embarrassing when your best friend/editor/emotional life coach is looking over your shoulder as you do it.  
  
"He's not even that hot in that one." Audrey says. “He’s flipping you off.”  
  
"Carlos is always hot, and you can shut up." Chad snaps back, locking his phone so he can watch the panel.  
  
The Q&A panel itself is pretty standard - most of the questions are about update schedules and creativity and that junk. Chad doesn't really know, he's not paying attention to the questions, too busy staring at Carlos. The camera is far away enough that it doesn't pick up his freckles. Shame.  
  
He grabs his notepad and scrawls, carefully, _freckles like city lights from the highway/like city lights reflected by the ocean_. He taps Audrey, flipping her the notepad. "Which one sounds better?"  
  
"Second one," she answers after a second, eyes flicking back to the screen. “Did you know that Carlos doesn’t script his episodes?”

“That’s bullshit, I’ve edited his scripts.” Chad mumbles, scrolling through his draft. He can work in that freckles thing somewhere in chapter 7, he knows it. “He just wants to sound impressive.”

“Damn, expose him.” Audrey says. “I should write a fake deep thinkpiece about his manipulation of his audience or whatever.”

“Don’t! He’ll dump me, and I’ll _never_ forgive you.”

“Ugh, I won’t.” Audrey says. “You’d never finish that damn novel if I did.”

Chad sticks out his tongue, even though it’s true. He was a lot worse at writing before he started dating Carlos, he doesn’t know if he’d be able to come back from it if, god forbid, he _wasn’t_ dating Carlos anymore.

Audrey hits him with one of the couch’s throw pillows. “Pay _attention_ _!_ I’m only watching this because you wanted to!”

Chad shuts his laptop. “You’re stifling my creative spirit,” he grumbles, but he refocuses on Carlos, who is explaining why his videos are able to be edited so quickly. “I already know all this stuff, anyway, I just wanted to hear his voice.”

Audrey gives him a long-suffering look. “Chad, that’s so sappy. What the fuck.”

“I don’t know! Shut up!”

“ _This_ is why you can only write romance plotlines.”

He sighs, because he can’t argue that. It’s true. “I just have so much love in my heart, Auds.”

Audrey shushes him so they can listen to the next fan asking a question. It’s some scraggly teenager, who puts his mouth a little too close to the microphone and asks, _“So, like, are you and Jay hooking up? You seem really close.”_

Audrey boos the screen, and Chad suddenly feels an overwhelming need to throw up. He knows it’s illogical, but how many people have factored him out of Carlos’ life? Don’t even know he’s there at all?

 _“Um, we aren’t? I have a boyfriend?”_ Carlos responds, obviously annoyed. _“I, like, tag him in everything I post. Where have you been?”_

 _“I’m sorry if that was rude! You guys are just so cute together!”_ The kid responds, nervous.

 _“Well, anyone is cute when they hang out with me! I radiate that shit,”_ Carlos jokes, getting a laugh from the crowd. He quickly drops his smile, though. _“Seriously, though, you need to drop this. Do you guys know how many messages I get about this? It makes me uncomfortable, it makes Jay uncomfortable, and it’s awkward for our_ **_real_ ** _boyfriends.”_

“Wow, he’s going off.” Audrey says, impressed. “Whenever Mal’s fans forget about me, she just laughs about it.”

“There’s, like, this whole fan culture around Jay and Carlos’ supposed affair.” Chad says, quietly, grabbing a throw pillow and squeezing it. “I keep forgetting about it, and then shit like this happens.” He thinks Audrey will probably make fun of him, maybe say something about how she doesn’t want to read Chad’s angsty work that will surely come from this.

But Audrey says, gently, “You know he loves you. It’s fine.” Chad is surprised - he shrugs, caught of guard. “Seriously, Chad. You think that boy is the damn sun. If he didn’t love you, I’d be worried about his mental health.”

“He’s more like the Milky Way.” Chad says, feeling a soft smile spread across his face. Audrey groans, and turns up the volume on the stream.

 _“Thanks for hanging out, guys! If you have any other questions, keep them in mind, because I want to do a Q &A vid in a few months. And, um, I’m going to be at some other panels here, but you guys know that already, right?” _ The crowd laughs, and Carlos smirks. _“Yeah, I figured. Uh, have fun at the rest of the con!”_

Carlos hugs the pillow to his chest. God, he misses Carlos.


End file.
